Independent 11,658 / Eccles

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Eccles is in the Wednesday slot this week, where we are accustomed to seeing him.

I found this to be a highly enjoyable medium-difficulty puzzle, with fair, crisp wordplay throughout. Eccles did have the last laugh on me, however, since I needed to search Chambers for 7, having wrongly convinced myself that the solution had to be “entrance” – how silly of me not to have solved it unaided!

My favourite clue was 15, by some margin, for smoothness of surface. The entries at 10 and 17 were both new to me but could be teased out satisfactorily from the wordplay. I was surprised how long it took me to see 18A, despite the solution staring me in the face!

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 STARK REALITY Unusual literary task reveals painful truth

*(LITERARY TASK); “unusual” is anagram indicator
     
09 STEINBECK Stone in stream inspires English author

E (=English) in [ST (=stone) + IN + BECK (=stream, rivulet)]; the reference is to American author John Steinbeck (1902-68)
     
10 NONCE Possibly Catholic, for the time being

NON-CE (=possibly Catholic, i.e. non Church of England)
     
11 ENTAIL Bring on bird with no head and backside

<h>EN (=bird; “with no head” means first letter is dropped) + TAIL (=backside); to entail is to bring on/about, have as a consequence
     
12 MEASURED Certain to stop drink being quantified

SURE (=certain) in MEAD (=drink)
     
13 DUB?EK Slovak statesman to name his neighbour on the radio

DUB (=(to) name) + homophone (“on the radio”) of “Czech (=neighbour, i.e. of Slovak)”; the reference to the (Czecho)Slovak politician Alexander Dub?ek (1921-92)
     
15 VIOLENCE Once evil is let loose, brutality results

*(ONCE EVIL); “is let loose” is anagram indicator
     
18 FRETSAWS Obnoxious waster fights about storing tools

Hidden (“storing”) and reversed (“about”) in “obnoxiouS WASTER Fights”
     
19 ENGELS Philosopher’s financial backers are becoming charitable at last

ANGELS (=financial backers); “are (=A, i.e. the metric measure) becoming charitable at last, i.e. last letter only” means letter “a” becomes “e”; the reference is to German philosopher Friedrich Engels (1820-95)
     
21 BARNSLEY Prevent Poles getting arable land in Yorkshire town

BAR (=prevent) + N S (=Poles, i.e. North and South) + LEY (=arable land, pasture)
     
23 OSAGES Native Americans’ old son gets older

O (=old, as in Old Testament) + S (=son) + AGES (=gets older); the Osages are a Native American tribe living in Oklahoma
     
26 EVOKE Elicit fine, punching fruit-picker in 4

OK (=fine, all right) in EVE (=fruit-picker in Eden (=entry at 4))
     
27 SOAP OPERA Thus, a pontiff meets God in drama

SO (=thus) + A + POPE (=pontiff) + RA (=God, in Ancient Egypt)
     
28 SLIPPER SATIN I persist with plan to rip fabric

*(I PERSIST + PLAN); “to rip” is anagram indicator
     
Down    
     
01 SUSPEND Pass over American in bar

US (=American) in SPEND (=pass, of time); e.g. to suspend someone from work or school is to bar or exclude them
     
02 AVERT Prevent Bill’s daughter leaving

A<d>VERT (=bill, poster); “daughter (=D) leaving” means letter “d” is dropped
     
03 KINKINESS Families regularly persist in perverted activity?

KIN (=family) + KIN (=family) + <p>E<r>S<i>S<t> (“regularly” means alternate letters only)
     
04 EDEN Hazard, perhaps, of drug study

E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) + DEN; the reference is to Belgian international footballer Eden Hazard (1991-)
     
05 LAKE ERIE Body of water in city that is conversely smack in the middle

KEER (REEK (=smack (of), small strongly (of); “conversely” indicates reversal) in [L.A. (=city, i.e. Los Angeles) + I.E. (=that is, id est)]
     
06 TUNIS Beer cask is found in North African city

TUN (=beer cask) + IS
     
07 INFRINGE Break in digit with end of flexor displaced

IN + FRINGE (FINGER=digit; “end (=last letter) of flexor displaced” means letter “r” shifts to another position in the word); to infringe a rule is to violate, break it
     
08 MEDDLE Involve oneself in award from dictator

Homophone (“from dictator”) of “medal (=award)”
     
14 BEETROOT Overly radical supporter beginning to blow up crop

TOO (=overly) + R (=radical, in chemistry) + TEE (=supporter, in golf) + B<low> (“beginning to” means first letter only); “up” indicates vertical reversal
     
16 LONG SHOTS Wants to get host jiggling for outsiders

LONGS (=wants, desires) + *(HOST); “jiggling” is anagram indicator; long shots are unlikely to be successful in e.g. races, hence “outsiders”
     
17 SWEETSOP Fruit tree is kids’ favourite place to visit on High Street (except Henry)

SWEETS<h>OP (=kids’ favourite place to visit on High Street; “except Henry (=H)” means letter “h” is dropped); a sweetsop is a tropical fruit-bearing American evergreen
     
18 FIBBER Bishop in brief broadcast to expose liar

*(B (=bishop, in chess) + BRIEF); “broadcast” is anagram indicator
     
20 SUSTAIN Suffer small discoloration covering uniform

U (=uniform, in NATO alphabet) in [S (=small, in sizes) + STAIN (=discoloration)]; to sustain e.g. damage is to suffer it
     
22 SWELL Veronica’s peed off? Great!

S<peed>WELL (=Veronica, the speedwell genus); “peed off” means letters “peed” are dropped
     
24 GWENT Well-mannered man entertains women in Welsh county

W (=women) in GENT (=well-mannered man)
     
25 BAKE Cook unfinished kebab that’s going off

*(KEBA<b>); “unfinished” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “that’s going off”
     

18 comments on “Independent 11,658 / Eccles”

  1. Loads to enjoy, as always when Eccles is in town. SWEETSOP is new to me and what a lovely find with a deletion clue screaming to be created. SWELL was fun with the peed off Veronica, LONG SHOTS made me laugh, LAKE ERIE is beautifully done as is KINKINESS and what a fodder find for the anagram in STARK REALITY. BEETROOT defeated me – I didn’t spot the reversal or recognise the solution from the def; a letter reveal sorted that out but I should have spotted it. NONCE was a more comfortable entry when I realised the intended parse was not double definition which I thought would have been courting all sorts of potential problems!

    Thanks Eccles and RR

  2. I sympathise with the difficulty over FRETSAWS, which had me stumped for ages. It’s amazing how hard a well-crafted hidden clue can be. Even with crossers, SWELL was a BIFD for me, but I probably ought to have had at least enough of an idea for a helpful Google. Plenty to love, but LAKE ERIE stood out for me as a really nice surface for an entry that doesn’t immediately look at all helpful.

    PostMark@1 – That parsing didn’t occur to me, but yeesh, I can see why you were worried!

    Thanks Eccles and RR

  3. This was a great crossword. Lots to admire throughout.

    Couple of minor issues in blog. The c in Dubcek appears as ‘?’ (at least with Safari) and small should be smell in 5d. (I tried to do the correct version of the ‘c’ and it also appeared as a ‘?’ so edited it out.)

    Didn’t know Eden Hazard or that Veronica was Speedwell.

  4. Nicely challenging and great fun as ever from Eccles.

    As usual I learnt a couple of new things along the way – the fabric in 28a and the fruit tree in 17d – but both were very fairly clued.

    Picking a single favourite from so many good clues is impossible, so I’ll just mention that LAKE ERIE, SWELL and KINKINESS were among the many contenders.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.

  5. I did need to verify the tree in 17d but what a wonderful find for our setter! It also took a nudge from our reviewer to sort out the smack in 5d. Instinctive favourites were STARK REALITY, STEINBECK & SWELL but there were plenty of others worthy of mention.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review.

  6. Remembered the chanting on the news in 1968 – “Dubcek, Svoboda, Dubcek, Svoboda…”
    Just to be sure, to be sure, I checked that STARK REALITY and SLIPPER SATIN are valid collocations.
    nho SWEETShOP – Annona (“yearly produce”) squamosa (“scaly”) – but the clue was a gift.
    Thanks E&RR

  7. A very good puzzle, which I couldn’t quite finish. NONCE was clued very pointedly, I thought.

    Thanks, Eccles. Hat doffed.

  10. Ra was not ‘God’ in Egypt.
    He was one of many gods.
    But I should imagine that distinction is beyond RR.
    Disappointed. As usual.

  11. Thanks both. Agree with the plaudits here, though I needed just a little help, and saw FRETSAWS very late like others. DUBCEK was a guess under good guidance, as I wasn’t watching a lot of world news while Watch with Mother was on.

  12. Some great clues which the blog helped me understand in SWELL, BEETROOT (great deception), and FRETSAWS (I saw a reversal inside but couldn’t parse FS), a couple of very simple ones like TUNIS, and EDEN (although Hazard was nho the reference in 26a was clear) and a favourite in NONCE (I feel more stupid than I am after seeing how it works). Thanks for the blog and thanks Eccles. I enjoyed the crossword.

  13. I’m sorry, Anna, but what a miserable comment @10. I’m not sure whether it’s the setter or the blogger you want to insult, or both. Ra was a god in Egypt which is how the clue has used the name and how the blogger has interpreted it.

  14. Agree totally with Postmark@13. Thought the comment at @10 was quite rude and unnecessary. Not good to see. It’s all just a bit of fun at the end of the day.

  15. Excellent Blog – thanks RatkojaRiku.

    Found the puzzle very tough and a few left unparsed. Violence was splendid clue.

    Thanks Setter and Blogger

  16. I don’t know re. Anna@10. “Disappointed as usual” suggests an incurable optimism which is something to be admired. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope” (MLK, Jr.). Btw I’m more of a pessimist and was pleasantly surprised, as usual, by Eccles and RR.

  17. Thank you both S&B. I specially liked ‘families = KINKIN’ ! I found STEINBECK tricky to get – the brain doesn’t want to unsee ‘English author’!

  18. Gods that aren’t the Abrahamic one do not generally warrant capitalisation in our somewhat skewed western discourse. But in crosswords, false capitalisation is allowed, so what would generally be considered (a) ‘god’ can, in a clue, be considered ‘God’. As for the surface meaning of the clue in question, I’d go with the setter in having the pontiff meet with the expected ‘God’ rather than (a) ‘god’.

    I don’t think anyone’s trying to diss (so to speak) any ancient religions here.

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